Lol I love the comparison but to be fair, catching a dog's leash is a lot easier than stopping the puck but love the example. I would offer my 2 cents for this Rask debate but I've already had this exact conversation with Rain about the goals Hellebuyck let in, in round 1

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Name me a sport that requires the goalie to excel with the skills of running 20 years quickly and grabbing something like a dangling leash. I'm not saying what you did wasn't athletic. However, what you did is in no way applicable to playing goalie in any sport. That is what I meant. What you did is more applicable to playing receiver in American football.

I would offer my 2 cents for this Rask debate but I've already had this exact conversation with Rain about the goals Hellebuyck let in, in round 1

Offer it anyways. No harm in it. While I have a fairly good understanding of the goalie position it doesn't make me a hockey goalie guru or what I say 100% fact in any way. It is just my analysis based upon what I know of the position combined with my experience playing goalie in another sport. The fact is you could go to every goalie coach and analyst and get different takes amongst them. If the closest thing to experts on the subject won't agree what does it matter if we do or don't?

Honestly, I see Rask as being a poor man's Lundqvist (I mean this more tongue and cheek as I'm not saying Rask is bad, more that Lundqvist is/was better. Also not talking about how they play but more the saves they make vs goals they let in). They are both great goalies who can make unbelievable saves but then the stuff they let in makes you scratch your head. The Marchand line change goal I'd say was more unstoppable than the O'Reilly tip. Pietrangelo dangled him and the other defender, that happens. All playoffs Rask was playing out of his mind and making glorious saves, but the O'Reilly tip was still stoppable imo. Sure that is a tricky shot to handle as it was tipped, but O'Reilly was high enough in the slot that he at the very least could have played the shot as tho he expected the tip. He could see ROR and knew the tip was coming. I think he could have reacted differently than leaving his pads a mile apart for that shot. His positioning was fine but it was one of the weaker goals he let in during the finals rather than it being a bad goal. That being said, I am less of a goalie analyst than any other position but there are my 2 cents lol

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I was more referring to the situation/clutch factor than the action itself. (the action was more like a CF diving for a fly ball). Rask seems more like a positional guy than the reflex/athletic type.

If I had to rate Rask for GPHM, it would be something like:

REF 85

POS 99

CTL 90

HND 80

ATH 85

END 79

SPI 90

My Tim Thomas ratings:

REF 99

POS 75

CTL 95

HND 80

ATH 95

END 80

SPI 99

Fair enough then.

As for Rask being more positional it is a thing being taught to goalies now and has been the thing for a number of years as well. Focus on your positioning and then use your athleticism only when you have to. That said in regards to your ratings I don't think that they are too far off at all. I would put Rask's ath and ref at 90 and 92 respectively though. Also Thomas' control I would drop to 85-88 area. He was well known for giving big rebounds. It would give him a chance to recover for any rebound chances but it also acted as a double edge sword against him.

Honestly, I see Rask as being a poor man's Lundqvist (I mean this more tongue and cheek as I'm not saying Rask is bad, more that Lundqvist is/was better. Also not talking about how they play but more the saves they make vs goals they let in). They are both great goalies who can make unbelievable saves but then the stuff they let in makes you scratch your head. The Marchand line change goal I'd say was more unstoppable than the O'Reilly tip. Pietrangelo dangled him and the other defender, that happens. All playoffs Rask was playing out of his mind and making glorious saves, but the O'Reilly tip was still stoppable imo. Sure that is a tricky shot to handle as it was tipped, but O'Reilly was high enough in the slot that he at the very least could have played the shot as tho he expected the tip. He could see ROR and knew the tip was coming. I think he could have reacted differently than leaving his pads a mile apart for that shot. His positioning was fine but it was one of the weaker goals he let in during the finals rather than it being a bad goal. That being said, I am less of a goalie analyst than any other position but there are my 2 cents lol

This I fully agree actually. That still doesn't change the fact that how he reacted to it meant that it wasn't saveable. Ideally, and only because we know what happened, he would have slid slightly to the blocker side while dropping into a butterfly stance closing off the bottom of the net for any deflections while also getting into position to make the save on the initial shot. That then still leaves him very vulnerable to any high deflections, especially high glove, which him staying upright as he did would be better for. Thus it could be argued that Rask played it for an unknown tip direction, which is what I think he did. However, either way it gets played if the shot has a chance of getting tipped you have to commit to either covering low or as much of the net as you can and either way if you get it wrong you lose as there is no way to recover. It is a no-win scenario for goalies which is why I said earlier that the only defense is not letting the shot get tipped in the first place via the defender tying up the other players stick. While deflection plays can be seen in that the possibility is there it is impossible to read where the puck is going to be deflected. It is very easy to second guess this play seeing what happened however it is also a bit unfair because of how it is impossible to read where the puck is going to be deflected. Had Rask known that it was going to be deflected 5 hole I am sure he would have done something very different to cover the first shot and the deflection. Remember hindsight is 20/20.

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In this case that isn't likely, tho be since many teams are within 6 million of the salary cap. The only team with plenty of cap space to really use is Ottawa and I don't see them doing much, to be honest. Case in point the Zack Smith, Artem Anisimov trade. It was done to get Ottawa above the cap floor. To boot they are actually paying Anisimov less than they would be paying Zach Smith because half of that cap hit was a contract bonus that took effect July 1st.

All the Pens need to do is get Pettersson resigned and their top 4 is good. They just need to get JJ's cap hit out to likely do that.

Agreed on the Petterson signing. Although I believe they still can use a top 4 D. Letang and Schulz are injury prone players and the 3rd pair is a joke. So even if everyone is healthy the D can use an upgrade.

Even if that D costs 5-7 million but is an upgrade to our current 3rd pair, which is not that difficult, it would be an even trade salary wise. Or almost even

There are honestly a lot of serviceable players left. A little past their prime for the most part but Boyle, Brassard, Vanek, and Marleau to name a few. Then there are the youngish guys like Hutton, Maroon, and Sheahan who could still be valuable. There are others too!

I left Gardiner off those lists because I believe that he brought this upon himself by asking for 7 mil. He isn't bad, but there are much better guys making less than 6, let alone 7 million per season.

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Maybe? Gusev has never played on the smaller ice and not all players make the transition successfully. That said I don't doubt that he will. In my mind, the question is will he be Panarin like? The KHL doesn't have anywhere near the quality of play and structure that the NHL has. Ultimately Vegas didn't have a choice as the other teams easily could force their hand in low balling offers in comparison to his talent claiming that he is an unknown on NHL ice and Vegas had to do something. All things considered, I think Vegas did ok with the return however if Gusev is even Radulov like Jersey won easily. If he is Panarin like it is a massive steal and the Devils may be a serious cup contender.

Maybe? Gusev has never played on the smaller ice and not all players make the transition successfully. That said I don't doubt that he will. In my mind, the question is will he be Panarin like? The KHL doesn't have anywhere near the quality of play and structure that the NHL has. Ultimately Vegas didn't have a choice as the other teams easily could force their hand in low balling offers in comparison to his talent claiming that he is an unknown on NHL ice and Vegas had to do something. All things considered, I think Vegas did ok with the return however if Gusev is even Radulov like Jersey won easily. If he is Panarin like it is a massive steal and the Devils may be a serious cup contender.

I think Gusev will be good. He has dominated everywhere he has been. Plenty of Russian players from the KHL have done well in the NHL. I don't think a 2nd and 3rd round pick were worth it for Gusev. VGK got finessed.

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While I agree let me point out two things. Vegas just went through Shipachyov. A player about as talented that didn't make the transition. Also, I don't see a team paying more than what the Devils did for that reason above as there is still risk that Gusev may not make the transition successfully. We both agree that that risk is pretty much nonexistent but it is still there. Thus the rest of the NHL GMs basically forced the issue of low ball offers and I think Vegas took the best one that was on the table. It is also possible that Gusev likely wasn't willing to wait for Vegas to clear the cap space much longer and pushed for something to happen.

I genuinely think that was the best offer on the table at the time for Vegas. If it was Vegas got the best offer it could. That said I would have tried to trade someone else before Gusev. Ideally Smith but that is very unlikely with his m-ntc.

While I agree let me point out two things. Vegas just went through Shipachyov. A player about as talented that didn't make the transition.

Shipachyov also didn't receive a fair opportunity. He didn't need waivers, and as a result, was sent to the AHL due to the log jam of players Vegas had after the expansion. He played 3 North American games total, which is too small to judge his sample size. In addition, Gusev will be likely placed into a role to succeed, thus making it easier for him to show his potential. Shipachyov got an average of only 11 minutes a night in his 3 games, I believe, whereas Gusev will likely get in the 15-18 range